I wish I could say we had the most romantic story in regards to how we met, but it was nothing spectacular. We met on the job – both military women; we had both come out of difficult relationships, her of three years and mine of nine years.

We met two years ago at ‘Inspire Spiritual Communities,’ an LGBTQIA spiritual center in West Hollywood, California. Parks was working as the administrative assistant and teaching yoga there, and I was in the Practitioner Training Program.

We actually met through social media. When we first met, three years ago, my partner was still not very comfortable coming out to friends and family. To a lot of people in Lebanon who are facing this dilemma social media is a big facilitator in meeting people who can potentially become later on partners.

LGBTIQ activists and citizens in many parts of the world face similar threats and danger - either from society, from the State, or from both. In response to the challenging conditions facing LGBTIQ activists, OutRight runs security training workshops in the most affected regions of the world with the aim of providing activists with the tools to be able to handle the most complex environment.